My Brunton Digital Map Measurer arrived today. Jan didn't think I needed it, but one does get excited about new toys. I justified it on the grounds that I wanted to accurately calculate the distances on the maps of our impending auto tour of northern Spain and Portugal. After setting the scale, I charged into the Michelin map of Portugal, #940, and promptly became enmeshed in absolute bewilderment about the readings I was getting. When the calculator and the computer verified my calculations, I turned to pencil and paper. That too suggested I was correct in my settings, but no matter what I did when I ran the map measurer against the scale bar the reading was off by 6 kilometers. Which was wrong? Jan said, Don't worry, it will all work out. Music might have been better to assuage the determined map reader. Anyway, what was it: the map scale of 1cm=4km or the distance bar on the scale? Settling down to basics, I grabbed a ruler with a centimeter scale and measured the bar. The bar was 6 centimeters in length. That is 24km (6X4). The bar read 30km. The map was wrong.

I have since emailed Michelin and I don't know if they corrected it on the 2002 edition. My advice is if you are going to use road maps and are concerned about distances, check the scale carefully. As for me, the digital map measurer will probably be gathering dust in a few months while we throw away the toys and enjoy the trip.

Tom